Barack Obama said something very reveling last night, which seems to have escaped the political chattering classes:
“So I know how unpopular it is to be seen as helping banks right now, especially when everyone is suffering in part from their bad decisions… It's not about helping banks - it's about helping people. Because when credit is available again…”
So, let’s be clear – the plan is for the government to mortgage your children’s future, to hand trillions of dollars to banks, so that they can lend you more money and put you further into debt.
This is trickledown economics of the most perverse kind.
The GOP doesn’t have any room to gripe. They helped create the mess we are in by doubling the national debt over the last eight years with a drunken orgy of spending that gave new meaning to the term “waste, fraud, and abuse”.
The Democrats are making it worse. It was bad enough that they passed a $800 BILLION “stimulus” bill that was larded up with some of the most egregious misuses of taxpayer’s money ever seen. Their latest move is a new $500 BILLION supplemental budget filled with special interest spending.
Where does that leave the rest of us? Screwed. Big time.
It’s becoming very clear that there isn’t dime’s worth of difference between the two parties. They are both captives of the same lobbyist culture in D.C. that has ruined our country. Unfortunately, Americans have demonstrated conclusively that they aren’t willing to do anything about it by voting for alternatives.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Do you like being Micromanaged by Government???
Neither do I. In fact, I don't like being micromanaged by anyone. At least when my boss does it I have the option of telling him to take a hike. We don't have any option of doing this when the government gets involved.
Unfortunately, the competing “stimulus” bills passed by the House and Senate contain a mind-boggling array of provisions that will punish or reward you based on your behavior. Do you want to buy a Chevy, Ford, or Chrysler? There might be a tax break in your future. But, if you want to save money for a rainy day, well… tough luck…
Regardless of which “stimulus” bill becomes law, we’re in for even worse times. The non-partisan Congressional Office (which is now appointed by Democrats) issued a statement this week assuring us that the stimulus bills will “hurt the economy more in the long run than if nothing is done”.
Let’s not forget that the “New Deal” prolonged the Great Depression. It took World War II to revive the economy, 14 years after FDR took office. So why are we trying to do this again???
The government created the current crisis by borrowing too much itself, artificially lowering interest rates to cause the population to run up too much debt, and coercing the financial intuitions to lend money to people who couldn’t afford their homes. The last thing we need is to borrow more money from the Chinese and Saudis to fund more nonsensical programs in the “stimulus bill”, like $8 BILLION in “Tribal Assistance Grants”.
Borrowing more to spend on the “stimulus” is not going to save us. It’s going to kill us.
What’s the answer? In short, we need to reign in the corrupt politicians and their lobbyist buddies who have ruined this country. Obama pledged to do this, but since taking office he has appointed a plethora of tax cheats to high office. He has also not followed his own executive order by appointing former lobbyists to high ranking positions in his administration. At this point it should be clear that Obama is nothing more than a typical politician in that he seems to believe that the rules exist only to stifle the opposition. This is not the kind of change that people voted for.
So, how do we make things right?
First, we need to dramatically simplify the tax code. Americans spend more than $200 BILLION dollars a year just trying to comply with America’s convoluted tax policy. Not only do we have one of the most complicated tax systems in the world, we have among the highest business tax rates in the developed world. Our top corporate tax rate is higher than in the social bastion of Sweden! We need to radically overhaul the tax system, making it simpler, fairer and more conducive to job creating innovation and production.
Second, we need to streamline government income redistribution programs. How many government income transfer programs exists? More than we can count. We could save countless billions of dollars a year in administrative overhead by combing all of these into a single income assistance program.
The same goes for healthcare. Politicians across the political spectrum love to berate our healthcare system, yet they are the ones who created the mess that we have today. There are too many government programs with too much overhead and too few benefits. We need to replace the maddening plethora of government healthcare programs with a simple program that assists lower income families to buy health insurance in the market.
The government also spends countless billions on programs that almost no Americans would support if they actually knew about them. President Reagan correctly called this spending “waste, fraud, and abuse”. Unfortunately, these programs have only multiplied over time. The problem is that there are too many programs for most of us to keep track of. We should get rid of them all.
We need also need to rethink the enormous amount of money that we are spending overseas. Why should American taxpayers continue to pay billions to subsidize the “defense” of rich countries like Japan, Korea, Germany, and others??? The Cold War has been over for 20 years, yet the government can't get over their cold war mentality. It’s long past time to end the government Cold War "military industrial complex" and save a ton of money in the process.
The bottom line is this – we shouldn’t be increasing America’s debt to the Chinese and Saudis by spending nearly a TRILLION dollars on a “stimulus” bill that the Congressional Budget Office says won’t stimulate anything, except perhaps the condom manufacturers who will get a big chunk of the change. Instead, we should take the opportunity to simplify the tax structure, rationalize government programs, and eliminate crazy government spending.
Unfortunately, the competing “stimulus” bills passed by the House and Senate contain a mind-boggling array of provisions that will punish or reward you based on your behavior. Do you want to buy a Chevy, Ford, or Chrysler? There might be a tax break in your future. But, if you want to save money for a rainy day, well… tough luck…
Regardless of which “stimulus” bill becomes law, we’re in for even worse times. The non-partisan Congressional Office (which is now appointed by Democrats) issued a statement this week assuring us that the stimulus bills will “hurt the economy more in the long run than if nothing is done”.
Let’s not forget that the “New Deal” prolonged the Great Depression. It took World War II to revive the economy, 14 years after FDR took office. So why are we trying to do this again???
The government created the current crisis by borrowing too much itself, artificially lowering interest rates to cause the population to run up too much debt, and coercing the financial intuitions to lend money to people who couldn’t afford their homes. The last thing we need is to borrow more money from the Chinese and Saudis to fund more nonsensical programs in the “stimulus bill”, like $8 BILLION in “Tribal Assistance Grants”.
Borrowing more to spend on the “stimulus” is not going to save us. It’s going to kill us.
What’s the answer? In short, we need to reign in the corrupt politicians and their lobbyist buddies who have ruined this country. Obama pledged to do this, but since taking office he has appointed a plethora of tax cheats to high office. He has also not followed his own executive order by appointing former lobbyists to high ranking positions in his administration. At this point it should be clear that Obama is nothing more than a typical politician in that he seems to believe that the rules exist only to stifle the opposition. This is not the kind of change that people voted for.
So, how do we make things right?
First, we need to dramatically simplify the tax code. Americans spend more than $200 BILLION dollars a year just trying to comply with America’s convoluted tax policy. Not only do we have one of the most complicated tax systems in the world, we have among the highest business tax rates in the developed world. Our top corporate tax rate is higher than in the social bastion of Sweden! We need to radically overhaul the tax system, making it simpler, fairer and more conducive to job creating innovation and production.
Second, we need to streamline government income redistribution programs. How many government income transfer programs exists? More than we can count. We could save countless billions of dollars a year in administrative overhead by combing all of these into a single income assistance program.
The same goes for healthcare. Politicians across the political spectrum love to berate our healthcare system, yet they are the ones who created the mess that we have today. There are too many government programs with too much overhead and too few benefits. We need to replace the maddening plethora of government healthcare programs with a simple program that assists lower income families to buy health insurance in the market.
The government also spends countless billions on programs that almost no Americans would support if they actually knew about them. President Reagan correctly called this spending “waste, fraud, and abuse”. Unfortunately, these programs have only multiplied over time. The problem is that there are too many programs for most of us to keep track of. We should get rid of them all.
We need also need to rethink the enormous amount of money that we are spending overseas. Why should American taxpayers continue to pay billions to subsidize the “defense” of rich countries like Japan, Korea, Germany, and others??? The Cold War has been over for 20 years, yet the government can't get over their cold war mentality. It’s long past time to end the government Cold War "military industrial complex" and save a ton of money in the process.
The bottom line is this – we shouldn’t be increasing America’s debt to the Chinese and Saudis by spending nearly a TRILLION dollars on a “stimulus” bill that the Congressional Budget Office says won’t stimulate anything, except perhaps the condom manufacturers who will get a big chunk of the change. Instead, we should take the opportunity to simplify the tax structure, rationalize government programs, and eliminate crazy government spending.
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